The Gifties are on ...

So I taped Desperate Housewives Sunday night, since I was working on that rush call. As I watched it last night, I started to fast forward through the commercials and realized ... there it was. The Old Navy "Gifties" commercial that I worked on. That was fast! You can't see me. But when they do a wide crowd shot in the beginning you can see a red blob where I'm standing. I'm wearing a red jacket. I'M FAMOUS!!! haha ;)

Americanizing Shelly

Americanizing Shelly is a low budget film that doesn't have too much info on imdb. It took me little over an hour to drive up to Thousand Oaks ... for some reason there is always this "rush hour" on Sundays around 5 and 6 and it always screws up my travel time because I always forget about it. Anyway, I got there and basically sat around and read for about and hour or 2. The bar was open and some bar patrons were there, so, all in all, it felt pretty laid back. I met this guy, who was also a paid extra, that was the spitting image of Vince Vaughn out of Swingers, and just as loud and obnoxious as you might imagine. He was a lot of fun to talk to. They finally broke for lunch around 9, and the burrito buffet was pretty good. They had an electric slide lesson on the dance floor right after. I had suspected there might be dancing, since it was a country western bar with a good size dance floor and thought I might get to two step. =) I was right. Well ... sort of. An AD asked me if I could two step and I said yes a little. I'd been fortunate to do it some while I was in Austin. =) Then, they picked out a guy and told me to teach him. Now, out of all the dances I know, I know very little about leading two step, so teaching a guy was not something I was confident about. They found 3 other couples that were regulars at the club that could two step, so once I showed the guy they paired me with what I came up with as a basic and an underarm turn, it helped to see them and get a better feel for it. I have to say that my partner had no dance experience, but he did awesome. He really picked it up quickly and for a guy to learn a traveling dance like that and not only have to maneuver a dance floor right away, but a dance floor packed with camera and crew, he really pulled it off and made it look like he'd done it before. And he wasn't even a paid extra ... he was just there with some co-workers. We had to go around the line dancing electric sliders in the middle, somewhat like you see on a normal dance floor. However, the first few takes we did, they had us going the wrong way ... against the line of dance ... which even messed up the real two steppers. Then we finally got to go the right way, but we also had to maneuver through the line dancers, which is not typical, and needless to say, there were a few bumps here and there. All in all, though, that was the most fun of the evening and the most interesting to write about. After the dance scenes, there were just your normal bar scenes with pool playing and what not in the background. We didn't get out of there until 2:30, and they were still filming,, but they couldn't afford to pay us OT, so they got rid of us. I got home about 3:30ish and fell fast asleep. =)

Rush Call ... Americanizing Shelly

Just got a call for a rush call on a movie called Americanizing Shelly. It's tonight from 6pm - 1am. Should be fun and easy money. It's at a country western bar. Hopefully it won't go past 1am. ;)

It's Official

I'm heading home for the holidays ... but my dad and I worked up a scheme. I'm surprising my mom for thanksgiving. I haven't had thanksgiving with my parents in 6 or 7 years, so I'm excited. My mom has no idea so this should be fun. =)
And since it's somewhat of a long trip I will be in good ole Colatown, SC (that's Columbia for all you folk not from the carolinas) for all of the holidays. It will be a long stay, but since work is slim in december, I might as well take advantage of hangin' with family. =) I plan on coming back in January fully refreshed and ready to work, work, work!!

Not much to report...

Not much going on. Haven't worked on anything because I'm trying to get my big list of "things to do" narrowed down. Signed up with LACasting 2 days ago under my new agent and am in the process of getting my 300 copies of my headshot. I hope to work more next week. I hope to get everything I need to get finished this week.

The Gifties

I got to work on my first commercial this past week. Just as a non union extra but the pay was decent. 2 days on Old Navy ... I'm guessing it's one of their new holiday commercials. Mostly it was boring work, especially the first day because they barely used us. I was a "fan" and it was set up to be like the red carpet outstide the oscars or grammies (get it? ... gifties =P). So we were standing in some bleachers pretending to cheer for the celebrities that were coming out of the limo onto the red carpet ... and the celebrities were the boycut jeans. ;) All in all it was cool to get my first taste of what it's like to work on a commercial.

The Nanny and other stuff...

Well, I haven't worked as an extra in a while. Worked as a nanny for my cousin's 1 1/2 year old for a month ... then got sick for 2 weeks ... then my mom visited for 2 weeks ... so it's been a bit crazy for me. In the meantime, I got a commercial agent and got new headshots. Hopefully I will get more work soon!

17 Days

Well the whole experience was great! It was great working on a film for such a long time and I made a few friends along the way. I'm really looking forward to seeing Poseidon when it comes out, if nothing else the special effects will be fun to watch. The sets of the 2 ballrooms were breathtaking and although it was a bit tiring wearing the same strapless dress the whole time, I'd do it again.

I've posted a few pictures. Mostly of the people I saw and hung out with on a daily basis.

Shannon and Donna 

lots of extras with a lot of time to wait and pose for the occasional "illegal" picture... 

donna and lisa 

Before the ship flips ... waiting around in holding... 

you can barely see me, but I'm there ;) just standing around and waiting for the balloon drop... 

balloon drop 

first day after flip ;) I ended up getting bloodier and dirtier with every day :P

Well ... here it is Monday ... call time 4:30 am ...
Last week was long, tiring and fun. Along with the cast, I spotted 2 other miscellaneous celebrities around the set ... Salma Hayek, who was checking out the set and holding hands with Josh Lucas ... and I saw Rob Reiner pull up in a golf cart and go into the set ...
Well, it's time to go to work. I'm trying to get my hands on some pictures ,,, my digital camera decided to quit working, but I should have some soon. =)

On The Flip Side ...

*YAWN* It's too early ... =P
Yesterday was fun went by surprisingly fast, but after having less than 3 hours sleep Sunday night, I feel extra sleepy this morning ...
We began filming on the upside down set yesterday, and from what I understand, yesterday was the most complicated. We did the part right after the flip, when everyone is coming to and the emergency lights are starting to come on. They had water dripping from the ceiling (from the "ship's busted water pipes") and fires in various locations and tons of stunt people falling from the balcony and catching on fire. Everyone starts out in various locations on the floor (ceiling) and slowly gets up (if they can or aren't dead =P). I started out on an upside down table on top of a dead guy (fake dead guy ;)). Then as I was "coming to" the chandaliers start sparking and a man catches on fire next to me. It was pretty cool to see it all, but I do have to say I am already waking up with bruises. =P
The make up on everyone is amazing and really cool. But I'll go into that tomorrow. Need to get ready to go. =) Got to be there at 5am today ...

Poseidon - Round 2

Well, I start on Poseidon again tomorrow when they'll begin filming after the flip. Central Casting just called me with my info. My call time is at 5:30am (a little better than last time. =P And my category is Injured ... the girl told me they have healthy, injured and dead ... should be fun. =)

1 week down ... 1 to go ...

WOW! Last week was just a blur. I'd have to say the most fun was Friday. We did the countdown to midnight and they had a balloon drop and streamers shooting and the whole shabang ... we had to rehearse it a couple of times before they released everything ... basically, while we are singing Aulds Lang Sine (or however you spell it =P), the "alarm" goes off and we "hear a rushing sound" and everyone panics, etc ... when we did it for real finally, it was actually quite chilling to be in the middle of all of that ... I was near the back of the dance floor kinda in the middle and when people started screaming and running, I literally could not make it to my table ... My hands were still shaking by the time we did it again ... this time of course we just picked up a few balloons and threw them in the air ;)
Anyway ... I can't wait to see how it all turns out on film!
I get to go back on July 12th for the upside down scene. I'll get pics of my dress "after the flip" and post 'em when I can. =)